When emergencies arise, it is often important to deliver and distribute merchandise as soon as possible at the emergency location. For example, when hurricanes or other weather phenomena impact communities, time is of the essence in delivering and distributing food and other staple items to the affected individuals. Other less critical emergency circumstances may also arise that require the rapid deployment of portable and easily configurable conveyor systems. As another example, when a long lasting power outage hits a retail store or retail distribution center, it may be desirable to transport a portable conveyor system to the store or distribution center to handle the sortation of merchandise at those locations.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a portable distribution center that can be quickly and easily transported to the location of an emergency. Further, it would be desirable to provide a conveyor system that can be easily configured to sort and divert merchandise to uniquely identified sortation lanes at the emergency location. By being readily configurable, the conveyor system may be set up to handle and sort merchandise kits (specific combinations of merchandise) responsive to the specific conditions and needs of each emergency.
Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present invention. Certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.